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August 6, 2010

[“You can really see the frustration,” Dr. Awais Yaqub, a deputy medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement. “Aid is coming, but the scale of the disaster is such that it is clearly not enough, especially in terms of drinking water.”

“We are working hard to provide as much as we can, but we are the only organization doing this in Charsadda and the scale of the problem is so big. We have decided to assess the mental health situation here, as many people are still in a state of shock. They are still scared of water coming back, of new floods taking them by surprise. They still fear for their lives.”]

By SALMAN MASOOD and KEVIN DREW

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As rain fell throughoutPakistanon Friday, public anger at PresidentAsif Ali Zardari, away on a European trip, began to swell, with critics accusing him of ignoring the country’s worst flooding in 80 years in order to travel abroad.

Political opponents, print and electronic media continued venting their anger at Mr. Zardari as the army and international aid organizations struggled to help victims of the flooding. After visiting France Mr. Zardari is in Britain, where he arrived on Friday at the country residence of Prime MinisterDavid Cameronfor talks on terrorism, Afghanistan and trade.

The Pakistangovernment emphasized that the talks were an opportunity to smooth over a diplomatic tussle created by Mr. Cameron’s comments last week, some of which were highly critical of Pakistan’s approach to fighting terrorism. Pakistani leaders were particularly angered because Mr. Cameron made the criticism during a visit to its regional archrival, India.

After the meeting on Friday, Mr. Zardari and Mr. Cameron both described ties between their countries as unbreakable. “Storms will come and storms will go, and Pakistan and Britain will stand together and face all the difficulties with dignity,” Mr. Zardari said.

A joint statement said Mr. Cameron had acknowledged the “sacrifices made by Pakistan’s military, civil law enforcement agencies and people in fighting violent extremism and militancy.” The wording was apparently designed to defuse Pakistani anger at Mr. Cameron’s earlier comments, which were interpreted as ignoring the high casualties from terrorist attacks and counter-insurgency campaigns in Pakistan.

But Mr. Zardari’s diplomacy has not eased criticism at home, where his popularity continued to fall in recent surveys.

“We have been let down very badly by Mr. Zardari,”Nawaz Sharif, an opposition leader and former prime minister, said this week. “We have been let down more by him than the statement by David Cameron,” Mr. Sharif told reporters after visiting flood affected areas in Charsadda in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, formerly the North-West Frontier Province.

The Café Pyala Web site, a blog known for biting political commentary, said in a posting: “To add to the callousness of it all, most of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is underwater at the time of filing this post. And yet our president just can’t resist the temptation of grinning a broad grin before the British cameras for a huge photo-op, probably at vast public expense.”

Mr. Zardari was elected as Pakistan’s president after the former presidentPervez Musharrafresigned under threat of impeachment in 2008. Mr. Zardari assumed the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party after the December 2007 assassination of his wife,Benazir Bhutto.

Accompanying Mr. Zardari on this trip is his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who recently finished studies atOxford University. Mr. Zardari was expected to travel to Birmingham in the English Midlands on Saturday to deliver a speech at a rally of overseas supporters of his Pakistan Peoples Party.

Opponents have seized on the cost of Mr. Zardari’s overseas trip at a time of an acute humanitarian crisis at home.

Imran Khan, an opposition leader and former cricket star, asked, “Why will our president and his delegation be lodged in the most expensive hotel in London at a time when thousands of people are marooned and scores of others stand devastated?”

In a statement released by the Pakistan diplomatic mission in London last weekend, the government said that Mr. Zardari would stay in London hotels at discounted rates and eat discounted food from Pakistani restaurants and that officials accompanying him would travel in eight-seat vans rather than luxury cars while in Great Britain.

Some senior government officials defended the president.

“He would have been remembered and criticized even if there were no floods in the country,” Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilanisaid. “I am the chief executive of the country. I am here and my whole cabinet is here to supervise the relief operation which is our responsibility and not the president’s.”

TheUnited Nationshas called the flooding the worst in 80 years, with at least 1,500 lives lost and more than 4 million people affected.

On Friday rain fell throughout the country and floodwaters moved into the southern SindhProvince.

The Pakistani military has led Pakistani flood relief efforts since state relief agencies don’t have the resources to cope, and has been joined by the international community.

The United Nations refugee agency said it was aiming to support more than 350,000 of the most vulnerable flood-affected victims. The agency earlier said it had distributed 10,000 tents for temporary housing and had ordered 20,000 more.

The lack of resources to cope with the disaster is worrying aid organizations. The humanitarian agency Médecins San Frontières, orDoctors Without Borders, said in a statement that it was assessing health service needs in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and BaluchistanProvinces.

In Charsadda the scale of desperation among displaced people was growing, the organization said.

“You can really see the frustration,” Dr. Awais Yaqub, a deputy medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement. “Aid is coming, but the scale of the disaster is such that it is clearly not enough, especially in terms of drinking water.”

“We are working hard to provide as much as we can, but we are the only organization doing this in Charsadda and the scale of the problem is so big. We have decided to assess the mental health situation here, as many people are still in a state of shock. They are still scared of water coming back, of new floods taking them by surprise. They still fear for their lives.”